Week Ending - 2024/06/02
MATT IS LRRL CHAMPION
The Swithland 6 race on Sunday was the final chance for runners to bid for individual honours in the Leicestershire Road Running League, Spring league and in-form Matt Scarsbrook made it three wins from three to not just win the race but become the first person ever from Badgers to win the overall individual title. Four runners from the club have previously won age categories in the past, namely Rachel Crump, Cheryl Dewis, Chris Horton (twice) and John Shade, but nobody has ever made it to overall champion, until now.
Scarsbrook set off at a rate of knots and looked uncatchable on a hot and sunny day in Mountsorrel and that’s exactly how the race played out. The 27-year-old established a commanding early lead, successfully navigating a difficult section of gravel track made considerably worse by the local farmer’s decision to carry out drainage works the day before, and finishing a minute and a half up on West End’s Ben Darlow in second with a winning time of 30:43 and one of only a handful of Platinum standard times on the day. He had to graft, as he always does but he won handsomely in front of his proud parents as well as leading the successful men’s quartet home for a further prize on the day.
Captain Ryan Preece battled hard to clock a PB of 33:40, ambitions of a club record thwarted by the heat and a head cold. The 27-year-old has been building successfully throughout the campaign and his efforts landed him a ninth-place finish overall to feature in the prizes in the overall individual standings.
Neil Russell maybe 45 years old but he is running better than ever this year and in a stacked field, he finished 13th overall in a Platinum standard time of 34:09 (PB), three seconds inside the V40 club record and on a scorcher of a morning too. To his amazement, he also emerged first veteran athlete back in the race earning him £50 in prizemoney and by playing a part in the winning men’s team, he picked up a further prize rounding off a morning to remember for the Bulkington-based Dad. His wava rating of 83% was one of the highest by a Badger this season and should see him finish second overall in a highly competitive V45 sector in this season’s LRRL.
Danny Warren battled hard in the heat to round up a quality Spring campaign which has seen him move house, become a father again and ultimately here finish ninth overall in the Spring league series. His time of 35:35 was some way off his Swithland best but good enough for a place in the scoring side and mixed team. Chris Horton had a tough day but dragged himself around to bag his fifth top-level club standard for the season, making it the eighth consecutive year of him achieving this feat, a remarkable effort of high-level consistency. He, therefore, should finish third in the V45 age category in the Spring league, a place behind teammate Russell, meaning that he will have won an individual LRRL prize in every calendar year possible going back to his first in 2017.
With co-captain Dave Hill out with injury, key man and Mr Reliable Glyn Broadhurst stepped up once again to round out the scoring six and meaning that half of them were vets. His 37:20 was a gutsy effort in the summer sun and ensured that the vets team extended their lead at the top of the table once Mark Repton crossed the line in a classy 38:21. The Badgers fielded their strongest vets team possible as grafting duo Dave Jackson (38:37) and Chris Tweed (39:28) finished in quick succession before young Ashley Taylor broke 40 minutes for the first time ever with his rapid 39:58, Swithland or bust as they say. Mark Cox somehow made it around in 40:08, an explanation to follow later, and new V50 one-mile club record holder Mark Coggan got back in a respectable 40:34.
Veteran aces Matt Green, Wayne Repton, Bill Gutheridge and Jim Cottom all gave plenty of themselves on an unforgiving morning, all getting back within three-quarters of an hour. Luke Bennett had another excellent run in 45:52 ahead of veteran Dave Purvis who recorded yet another PB in 46:31. Club stalwarts Rob Crow, Paul Cooper and Peter Mann all grafted to the point of exhaustion before V60 mile club record holder Adrian Parkes cruised home ahead of Peter Greenfield whose time of 54:19 was plenty good enough for the experienced former Nuneaton Harrier to win the V75 prize post-race, a terrific effort. With Matt Smith and John Devenney both in action too, it really was a bumper turnout for the Badger boys.
The ladies had their fair share of participants too as once again the classy Eleanor Fowler strode home first of all in 17th place overall in a club record time of 40:54. Second in her age category, she also inadvertently bagged the club’s V40 record in the process, the pacy Higham based athlete noticeably raising the standards within the women’s team this term. Next back was in-form captain Megan Griffiths who has been PB’ing for fun in 2024. Here she recorded a time of 45:19 before Millie Ridgway and Suzy Farrell (PB) finished within 20 seconds of each other in 47 minutes. The speedy Rachael Shelton may be a V40 runner these days but she once again propelled herself back into the limelight with a sparkling run of 49:49, always a welcome addition to the Badgers set up on race day. Victoria Jones ran well again in 51:15 (PB) and Jill Miller too in 53:27 before Alice Belcher produced one of her best runs in a Badgers top just under the 54-minute mark, another PB.
The experienced Liz Peel produced her best Swithland run for seven years in 53:52 with Joanne Crow, Karen Thompson, Janey Barrett and the returning Serena Baker all finishing in quick succession. Marathon star Krystal Knight ran a PB of 58:50 as her super season continues. Megan Church broke the hour mark and good Samaritan Grace Barsby would have no doubt finished much higher than she did had she not stopped to offer medical assistance to another runner suffering a panic attack mid-race.
Vice-captain Sharon Jackson led home a string of hardworking teammates including Ann-Marie Currier, who is selling her campervan if anyone is interested, Averil Caton, Clare Whetton and Karen Draper. It didn’t end here though as there was still time for Kate Rathbone to bag herself a big new distance PB in 71:15 and Anne Devenney, Ivana Babicova and Sara Hawkins all finished the race to rapturous applause and the last of celebratory event coffee mugs, a big step up from some of the absolute tat foisted upon the runners in some previous years.
Away from the league race, Mark Coggan was in action days beforehand and took the club’s V50 mile record down to Chinatown with a rip-roaring run of 5:43 in the Lincoln Memory Mile. Mick Bailey missed improving his own V70 parkrun record by just two seconds at Walsall Arboretum while Liz Peel ran ger 250th parkrun and the returning Alan Argyle his 300th at Kingsbury Water Park. Victoria Jones ran her fastest 5K in nine years at Coventry and there were top ten finishes for Matt Green, Janey Barrett, Cameron Barnes, Mark Repton, Jill Miller and Greg Griffiths.
Over some real long-distance events, Andy Smith tackled the 15-mile stile-rich Farthingstone Foot Fest in Northampton in a time of around four hours. Stefan Martin ran the 27K middle distance event at the Peak District Maverick Ultra series finishing in 2:35:14 and fourth in his age bracket while Mark Cox ran the 52K race at the same event in a super time of 5:18, yet somehow managed to race the Swithland six a day later in 40 minutes, a superhuman feat of endurance from the hard-hitting, floor fitting ultra-running sensation from Stoke Golding.